r:

i't '"t""''''i.
tr,,.,, '
,,,,,,
,,,,,,,.""
i,

"',,,,,,,,,,;1;1i:i:' ""',,,..,,,,.'.::lii" :.,ra,,,,,,,,,,,,r,,

l:al.i:r, ::::ii:il
r::..::::. ::::.. .
':Il''::I.,Il'll'i.'

lssN 1449-6801
2lSTCENTURY
STUDENTS
I HARDWARE
& PERIPHERALS

By CarolDaunt
LearnTel

Normalitytakes a turn
towardstechnologyin
life and schools.

6am:Monday 15November2010
Nova wakes early to the sound of her
handheldalarm remindinqher that today is
the day for her live video link with students in
J a p a n ,R u s s i aa n d C a n a d a H
. erteam hasbeen
w o r k i n g c o l l a b o r a t i v e l yo n a c u l t u r a l e x c h a n g e
and today they debate the issues.
She sends an SMS from her handheld to
her team and their teacherto remind them to
check their wiki before they meet later today.
T h e y u s e t h e w i k i t o c o l l a b o r a t eo n t h e p a p e r
they will post to the school'swebsite about
their cultural exchangeprogram.

8am:Trovel
During her bus journey to school Nova listens
to the two podcasts her RSS feed picked
up overnight and downloaded to her MP3
player.She also catches up on reading the
e-book that is a set text for ancient history.
She loves the way the e-book has animated
r e c r e a t i o n so f a n c i e n t c i v i l i s a t i o n se m b e d d e d
into it
She dictates notes into her handheld and
t h e v o i c e - r e c o g n i t i o ns o f t w a r e t r a n s l a t e st h i s
into text so she can post both the audio and
the text to her blog once she gets to the next
urirelo<< h^+<n^t

9am: Interview Teachersfrom Lost

Century
Nova is working on a history projectthat looks
at education last century She has to meet
f a c e - t o - f a c ew i t h t w o t e a c h e r s w h o w e r e i n
t h e c l a s s r o o m i n 1 9 9 5 .T h e y a r e m e e t i n g a t
the local park where she can use the wireless
connection to enter text directly into her blog
a s s h e i n t e r v i e w st h e t e a c h e r s .
She is amazed to hear that in the last
century students' only accessto computers
and the Internet was through 'labs' set up
i n c l a s s r o o m sw i t h u p t o t w e n t y c o m p u t e r s
networked together. They (the teachers)

T H EE D U C A T T O
TENC H N O L O G
GYTJtDE
39
 HARDWARE
& PERIPHERALS

are amazed to see her handheld which acts

as a phone computer, PDA, camera and
v i d e o c o n f e r e n c es y s t e m . 5 h e s h o w s t h e m
how it is voice activated and will connect
to any website or send an email via voice
command using wireless to connect to the
N e w G e n e r a t i o nl n t e r n e t .
S h e i s a l s o s u r p r i s e dt o l e a r n t h a t s t u d e n t s
had just one teacher for each subject and
didn't collaborate with students in other
c o u n t r i e so r e v e n a t o t h e r s c h o o l s .

10am:ProblemSolving Class
Nova never misses her problem solving class
- s h e l o v e s t o h e a r h o w h e r c l a s s m a t e si n

other schools approach issues. She has

decided to attend this session from the group
webinar room rather than link in on her own
from her handheld. The group webinar room
has lounge chair seating for up to ten students
to connect via tablet PCs.She realisesthat this
is the new generation computer lab - like those
the teachersfrom last century spoke about.

1| am: Work on Assignment

The assignmenton global warming is due
on Friday. Nova wishes she were back in
'1995
when assignments weren't submitted
electronicallyand digitally time stamped so
the teacher knew exactly when they were
s u b m i t t e d .S h e a l s o w i s h e st h a t t e a c h e r sd i d n ' t
tc" her parents on their marking when they
emailed it back to her!
As she work through her spreadsheet on
researchdata she finds some figures that don't
seem right.Sheusespresencetechnology to check
her addressbook and finds that Hugh is available
on VolP so she clicksthe'meetme'button in the
spreadsheetand invites him to join her. Hugh
is able to tell her that the figures are right and
representan unusualevent last century.

lpm:Team meeting
A f t e r a o u i c k l u n c h N o v a ' st e a m m e e t s i n t h e
s c h o o lc a n t e e n w h e r e t h e y c a n u s e t h e w i r e l e s s
network to access their wiki. The team has
b e e n u s i n g a w i k i t o w o r k c o l l a b o r a t i v e l yo n
t h i s p r o j e c t f o r t w o m o n t h s .T h e w i k i e n a b l e s
them to make changes to their presentation
f r o m w h e r e v e r t h e y a r e .T h i s i s t h e f i n a l f a c e -
to-facemeeting beforethe link.

2pm: Videoconference Link

N o v a ' st e a m u s e s t h e g r o u p v i d e o c o n f e r e n c e
room for their link-uo. The session is a

40 TE
T H EE D U C A T T O NC H N O L O G
GYU r D E
 HARDWARE
& PERIPHERALS
I 2lSTCENTURY
STUDENTS

multipoint link between the four countries ( T i p :A g o o d p l a c e t o s t a r t i s

with another two sites in each country linked
to view the debate and to ask ouestions at
the conclusion. Hundreds of other students
a r o u n d t h e w o r l d w i l l a c c e s st h e v i d e o s t r e a m
t h a t w i l l b e p u t o n t h e s c h o o l ' sw e b s i t e a f t e r
the event.
w w w . w i k i p e d i a . o r g- t h e o n l i n e
e n c y c l o p a e d i at h a t a n y o n e c a n e d i t l l )
We're hurtling towards a mobile
s o c i e t y w h e r e e v e r y o n e w i l l h a v e a c c e s st o
information wherever they are Students will
b e a c c e s s i n gt h e i r e d u c a t i o n b y m - L e a r n i n g

"We'rehurtling towards a mobile society

where everyonewill hove occessto
information whereverthey ore."
3pm: Update ePortfolio and collaboration will be paramount.
Before she heads off to sports training, Nova This promises to be a rich learning
updates her ePortfolio She has been collating environment for students
h e r e P o r t f o l i os i n c e s h e j o i n e d t h e s c h o o l a s a and an exciting
j u n i o r l t c o n s i s t so f a b l o g w i t h v a r i o u s t e x t , challenge to
audio and video files linked to it. teachers to design
for a very different
ls this really the scenarioin 2010? environment. But
No - it's more likely to happen before then! there is no need to
A l l o f t h e s e t e c h n o l o g i e s a r e a v a i l a b l en o w . l f tear down all the
y o u ' r e n o t s u r e w h a t s o m e o f t h e m a r e ,c h e c k bricks and mortar
t h e d e s c r i p t i o n sa n d t r y t h e m o u t .